Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is denied bail after mixed verdict clears him of top charges in sex crimes case

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs dropped to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and denied bail as he awaits sentencing.

His lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the verdict a “great victory” and said the jury “got the situation right — or certainly right enough” as he stood outside Manhattan federal court at a stand of microphones. “Today is a victory of all victories.”

The mixed verdict capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.

“I’ll see you when I get out,” Combs told family members including his mother and children just before leaving the courtroom to return to jail. "We’re going to get through this.”

Combs stands convicted of two counts of a crime — transportation to engage in prostitution — that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. But jurors cleared him of three charges, two of which carried a mandatory 15 years and a maximum of life.

He was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.

Combs’ lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely face about two years in prison. Prosecutors, citing Combs’ violence and other factors, said the guidelines would call for at least four to five years. Locked up since his September arrest, Combs has already served nine months.

“We fight on and we're going to win,” Agnifilo said. “And we’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family.”

In a triumph for Combs, the jury of eight men and four women acquitted him of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fueled sex marathons with men.

Combs’ defense team argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges.

Agnifilo asked that Combs be released on bond immediately to await sentencing, saying the acquittals changed the calculus about whether he needed to be held.

“He’s not going to flee. He’s been given his life back,” Agnifilo said.

Judge Arun Subramanian denied it, saying Combs — for now — had not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community.”

Combs, 55, sat stoic as he heard the bond decision, then snapped his head toward Agnifilo and wrote several notes as the lawyer spoke. Finally Combs raised his hand and waved to get the judge’s attention. But he ultimately did not speak after consulting with Agnifilo.

Leaving the courtroom for a final time, he paused to address relatives packed into rows of wooden benches who supported him throughout the eight-week trial.

“Be strong. I love you,” he added, putting his hands to his lips and pushing a dramatic kiss toward loved ones.

Earlier in the day, when he heard the jury foreperson announce “not guilty” three times, Combs pumped his fist, looked toward the jurors and held his hands up in a prayer motion. Supporters in the audience could barely contain their relief despite the judge’s admonition to avoid outbursts: When the first “not guilty” was read aloud, someone shouted, “Yeah!”

The judge will decide Combs' punishment and suggested Oct. 3 as a sentencing date, but a defense request to have it sooner prompted him to schedule a virtual hearing Tuesday on the matter.

Federal officials involved in the case responded to the outcome by noting that sex crimes “are all too present in many aspects of our society.”

“New Yorkers and all Americans want this scourge stopped and perpetrators brought to justice,” Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton and Ricky J. Patel, who heads federal Homeland Security Investigations’ New York office, said in a statement.

Jurors deliberated for about 13 hours over three days before announcing their verdict. It came after they said late Tuesday that they had decided on four counts but were stuck on the racketeering one. At that point the judge told them to keep deliberating and keep the partial verdict under wraps.

Combs did not testify at his trial, which featured 34 witnesses as well as video of the rapper attacking his former girlfriend Cassie, the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura.

Her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said in a statement after the verdict that “by coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.”

Later he asked the judge in a letter to deny Combs bail, saying, “Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community.”

Cassie testified for four days about her turbulent, 11-year relationship with Combs, which began after she signed with his Bad Boy record label.

Cassie said Combs became obsessed with voyeuristic encounters, arranged with the help of his staff, that involved sex workers and copious amounts of baby oil. During the sex events, called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights,” Combs would order Cassie to do things with other men that she found humiliating, she testified.

When things did not go Combs' way, he would beat her, she said.

Another ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” told the jury she repeatedly told Combs she didn’t want to have sex with the men hired for their trysts.

“I’m not an animal. I need a break,” she told him. Nevertheless, she said, she felt “obligated” to comply with his demands, in part because he paid her rent.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.

The trial’s most famous witness, rapper Kid Cudi, said Combs broke into his home in late 2011 after learning that he and Cassie were dating. After his car was firebombed a few weeks later, Cudi — whose real name is Scott Mescudi — said he knew Combs “had something to do” with it. Combs denied it.

Combs’ defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were intruding in his personal life. In closing remarks to the jury, Agnifilo said it was not illegal for Combs to make “homemade porn” with girlfriends.

Combs was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s and became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, diversifying his interests with the Sean John fashion label, Ciroc vodka, a cable TV channel and a film and TV studio.

In 2001 he was at the center of one of the biggest hip-hop trials of its era, stemming from a Manhattan nightclub shooting that injured three people in 1999. Combs was acquitted of charges that he took an illegal gun into the club and tried to bribe his driver to take the fall.

His career recovered quickly that time.

Combs’ reputation may have suffered irreparable damage, though, after Cassie sued him in November 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. He settled the next day for $20 million, but more lawsuits by other women and men followed.

Most are still pending.

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Julie Walker contributed.

In this courtroom sketch, flanked by defense attorneys Teny Geragos, left, and Brian Steel, right, Sean "Diddy" Combs, center, reacts after he was denied bail on prostitution-related offenses, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Sean "Diddy" Combs' family is surrounded by media as they leave the courthouse, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A supporter of Sean "Diddy" Combs, reacts outside Manhattan federal court after Combs' was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted on the most serious charges at his New York trial, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Janice Combs, right, mother of Sean "Diddy" Combs, reacts outside Manhattan federal court after Combs' was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted on the most serious charges at his New York trial, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Family members of Sean "Diddy" Combs, react as they leave Manhattan federal court after Combs' was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted on the most serious charges at his New York trial, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Judge Arun Subramanian, left, instructs the jury to continue deliberations after they informed the court they were hung on count 1 during Sean "Diddy" Combs' sexual misconduct trial in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

FILE - Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center, May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)